System for recording studio Need Advice

gentonix · Post by **gentonix** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:29 am

Is there a reason people are recommending only GeForce cards? I mean this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121084
for example should be quite a decent choice.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:17 am

gentonix wrote:But that's AM2 and Phenom just isn't very good value for money right now.

Not good value you say? That motherboard is 75$, add 9500 phenom 260$ at newegg for total of 335$.

CQ6600 is 20$ more then Phenom 9500. Abit IP35 Pro motherboard is $179.99, that's 105$ more, then the MSI. ASUS EAH2400PRO is 49.99$.

MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital AM2 + 9500 Phenom = Total of 335$

CQ6600 + Abit IP35 Pro + Asus EAH2400PRO = Total of 510$

That 52% more money (175$) for ~20% gain in performance. Not good value you say? You have to look at the whole platform, not just the processor.

Needless to say with GIGABYTE GV-NX86T256H, that's currently on the dman's list, the price cap increases by 63$. Making it 573$ vs 335$.

Why would somebody want to pay 70% more just to get hotter, louder, more cluttered computer and 20% more performance? One bonus with AM2 systems is, that it's much more pleasant to install coolers on AM2 socket. For example Ninja would become viable option again.

The dman · Post by **The dman** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:33 am

Even though my advices have been completely ignored so far, I'm still going to repeat myself once more, before I leave this thread permanently.

Erssa

I really do appreciate your advice so no I'm not ignoring what you said as a matter of fact I respect your conviction to help a stranger in this situation and I'll be the first to admit it sounds like you guys know your stuff but I do have my reasons:

With Digital Audio Workstations choosing the right chipsets is crucial and the P35/ICH9R chipsets is what most of the DAW users and professional DAW makers are using now. There are also people running AMD with DAWs and I have no problem with AMD. Right now I have 5 computers with AMD that have served me well for the last few years but:

I also only have so much time to research all this stuff so for me it's easier to put together a known powerful working system for my DAW than spend more time and at this point and time Intel is the majority. 20% performance with a DAW is huge

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:53 am

The dman wrote:Erssa

I really do appreciate your advice so no I'm not ignoring what you said as a matter of fact I respect your conviction to help a stranger in this situation and I'll be the first to admit it sounds like you guys know your stuff but I do have my reasons:

With Digital Audio Workstations choosing the right chipsets is crucial and the P35/ICH9R chipsets is what most of the DAW users and professional DAW makers are using now. There are also people running AMD with DAWs and I have no problem with AMD. Right now I have 5 computers with AMD that have served me well for the last few years but:

I also only have so much time to research all this stuff so for me it's easier to put together a known powerful working system for my DAW than spend more time and at this point and time Intel is the majority. 20% performance with a DAW is huge

Well, thanks.

I'm the first to admit, that I know practically nothing about professional DAWs, but I know something about computers, and I see no inherent benefit on using P35/ICH9R chipset (except the ability to use Intel processors). Intel has bigger market share, so it's just normal it's used more in DAWs.

But anyway I made my suggestions with silence as first priority with price/performance coming as second. I don't know how Phenom fares in DAW benchmarks (the difference might be bigger or smaller then the 20%), so I understand why you want to play safe. Paying 250$ extra isn't a big issue for all of us.

But I still to stick to my first point. Graphics card is unnecessary. You might just as well built this with a motherboard that has integrated video. I'm not sure, if you absolutely need 3 pci-slots, or if you want to just play it safe. There are plenty of motherboards for Intel processors, that have dual monitor support and 2 pci-slots. And if 3 pci-slots is absolutely must, I don't see a reason why such a board wouldn't exist for Intel, when AMD has such boards.

Good luck with your build anyway. I hope it turns out nicely.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:53 am

gentonix wrote:Is there a reason people are recommending only GeForce cards? I mean this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121084
for example should be quite a decent choice.

Good price, good on power, known good drivers. The video card, after all, has two purposes:
1. Give dual analog display without fuss (search on ADD2 cards, FI), and with decent 2d quality.
2. Allow the use of a nice full-size mobo, and/or keep the mobo choice more open.

Paying just enough to be confident in the 2d quality, drivers, and that it won't cook itself over time, are all that's needed. That HD looks like a fine card, it just doesn't show up in a search of Geforce 6 and 7 series made by MSI, Gigabyte, BFG, and eVGA

(oversimplifaction, but basically true).

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:00 pm

that graphics card is ATi, of course it wont show up from an nVidia search.

its good i suppose, but one thing i would say is that while you still have dual analog display, how much longer will it stay analog? VGA > DVI is sketchy to me.

the only reason i would advice against an AMD at this point is that if you want quad core power, AMD isn't really producing. while they have finally made their quad, how does it really compare to an intel at similar price, or similar clock.

while its true that you need no true graphic performance, editing waveforms needs an amount of graphic performance. programs such as Audition, Soundtrack Pro, Sound Studio, and other editing and mixing programs need some form of graphics acceleration because its not just producing the image of a waveform, it has a lot to do with active recording, displaying levels which are constantly changing, and updating the waveform view. i may only have a GeForce FX5200, but i need something better for editing sometimes. not to mention another or at least a larger display.

The dman · Post by **The dman** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:53 pm

Audition, Soundtrack Pro, Sound Studio, and other editing and mixing programs need some form of graphics acceleration because its not just producing the image of a waveform, it has a lot to do with active recording, displaying levels which are constantly changing, and updating the waveform view. i may only have a GeForce FX5200, but i need something better for editing sometimes. not to mention another or at least a larger display.

Exactly, zooming in and out too fast to wave files makes my old G450 jiggy and some audio plugins run better at higher resolutions. Personally I think less is more if you don't need it

leftheaded · Post by **leftheaded** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:29 pm

not sure if this was already mentioned... what about having one super quiet drive in the PC, and put the large drives in a NAS in another room. Connect via wired gigabit. plus, you could put additional drives in it as you need them without worry about additional noise

I'm not sure how it would effect performance???

psymanproductions · Post by **psymanproductions** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:03 pm

Erssa wrote:
The dman wrote:I don't actually have to have a full size case I'm just concerned about 3 pci cards and a graphics card in a smaller case and heat.
Even though my advices have been completely ignored so far, I'm still going to repeat myself once more, before I leave this thread permanently.
YOU DON'T NEED GRAPHICS CARD FOR THIS COMPUTER
Unless you're planning on playing the latest games with it. Are you?

For example ASUS P5GC-VM Motherboard has 3 pci-slots and Intel GMA950 IGP. Although this motherboard only has one vga port, I'm sure there's a model that has 3 pci-slots and integrated graphics with 2 ports.

MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital AM2 has 3 pci-slots and supports up to 3 displays.

if you want dual lcd monitors with high resolutions then it will be worth getting a graphics card... the 8600gt?? thats overkill if u dont play games.
a 7600gt is enough and it doesnt get jiggly when zooming in/out quickly... atleast with cubase sx3 cos thats all i use. the dvi outputs can give better resolutions and slightly better quality that the old vga outs.

the hard drives youve chosen are good but id personaly put em in some kind of suspesion to isolate them mechanically thus getting rid of vibrations. i have the wd3200aaks and before i put it in a scythe quiet drive it was soo noisy... the drive is quiet it has very little whine when held in your hand its whisper quiet but the vibrations when hardmounted in a case are terrible.

as for putting the hard drives in NAS im not sure if you'd loose performance... hard drive performance is very important for DAWs so unless your willing to do lots of research intoit then dont risk it.

as a fellow music lover and wanna be producer i create music on my pc. i hope ur not planning on using the onboard sound for recording, midi or anything else lol. how ever im sure if uve got a studio then ur soundcard/s will probably be external.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:34 pm

i shot for something that i've seen, people trust, people have used here, and is silent/fanless.

but i'm glad to know i'm not the only person who knows what's at least slightly important.

i'll have to look into that 7600 you mentioned...i'm in need of a PCI-e card anyway.

The dman · Post by **The dman** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:44 am

if you want dual lcd monitors with high resolutions then it will be worth getting a graphics card... the 8600gt?? thats overkill if u dont play games.
a 7600gt is enough and it doesnt get jiggly when zooming in/out quickly... atleast with cubase sx3 cos thats all i use. the dvi outputs can give better resolutions and slightly better quality that the old vga outs.

Now I'm considering about returning the 8600GT and getting something like the 7600 GS.

I'm not up on the new Graphics cards but I do know if the 7600GS would take less resources and run a little cooler than a 8600 GT, I would consider it. Do you think the difference is that much to downgrade my choice?

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:03 am

The dman wrote:Now I'm considering about returning the 8600GT and getting something like the 7600 GS.

I'm not up on the new Graphics cards but I do know if the 7600GS would take less resources and run a little cooler than a 8600 GT, I would consider it. Do you think the difference is that much to downgrade my choice?

If you already have the 8600GT there's no reason to return it. The cards going to be in idle state most of the time, so downgrading to 7600gs wouldn't have any significant effect. 7600gs would be a poor choice anyway. Both Nvidia and AMD have better, cheaper and cooler new generation cards.

The dman · Post by **The dman** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:10 am

If you already have the 8600GT there's no reason to return it. The cards going to be in idle state most of the time, so downgrading to 7600gs wouldn't have any significant effect. 7600gs would be a poor choice anyway. Both Nvidia and AMD have better, cheaper and cooler new generation cards.

Thanks, you just saved me the hassle and time of returning it.

psymanproductions · Post by **psymanproductions** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:57 am

ye, i wouldnt bother returning it... its a bit more expensive than the 7600 models but the extra power which isnt needed toady will probably just future proof you if/when audio software interfaces start taking advantages of the 3d capabilities available today... like what windows vista does.